


Dustin's Girlfriend

by grswilliams



Series: Mr. Sinclair and the Kids [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 12:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13481958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grswilliams/pseuds/grswilliams
Summary: Mr. Sinclair has a talk with Dustin about his girlfriend





	Dustin's Girlfriend

Mr. Sinclair came down the basement stairs with a frown on his face. The party was having another sleepover and the kids had just finished an epic six-hour game of Risk. It was getting late and some of them were looking sleepy.

“Mr. Henderson, I need to see you in my office right now,” Mr. Sinclair growled.

To say that Dustin was shocked would be an understatement.  Mr. Sinclair always called the kids by their first names. He couldn’t recall a time when any of them had be called by their last name.  A million thoughts raced through his head. Was something wrong with his Mom? What had he done?  He couldn’t think of a thing.

“Yes sir, Mr. Sinclair,” he replied nervously and started up the stairs, following Mr. Sinclair to his office.  Mr. Sinclair pointed to one of the guest chairs for him to sit in, closed the door, and sat down at his desk chair, glowering at Dustin across the desk.

“What are your intentions with my daughter?”

“What? With who?” Dustin squeaked.

“Erica, of course.”

Dustin replied, mystified, “I don’t understand.”

Mr. Sinclair replied grimly, “I just tucked Erica into bed. She told me that she was _so_ excited that you were going to ask her to be your girlfriend.”

Dustin’s mouth flew open, “She said what?”

“You look as shocked as I did. You’re fourteen and she’s eight.  I think that’s way too early for any type of boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Don’t you agree?”

Dustin stuttered, “r-r-relationship? But…but I’ve never said anything to her like that. I thought she hated me. She’s always mean to me, calling me a nerd and rolling her eyes at everything I say.”

Mr. Sinclair looked at him with pity instead of anger. “You do know that, sometimes, girls will be mean to you when they like you?”

Dustin had reached a level of bewilderment he had never reached before in his life, “They do? Why would they do that?”

“That is one of the great mysteries of life Mr. Henderson."

Mr. Sinclair paused for a second and then got back to the matter at hand. “So, you haven’t been looking at her with googly eyes like Lucas looks at Max?  That’s what she told me.”

Dustin was flabbergasted, “What? No way, I would never do that.”

“Why would she think that you were looking at her like that?”

Dustin squirmed, “I have absolutely no idea. I mean, I might look at her sometimes, and it’s not like she’s ugly or anything, but most of the time I just try to avoid her.”

“So you think she’s cute?” Mr. Sinclair looked at him archly.

Dustin knew that he was in a no-win situation with that question. “No, I didn’t say that, ….  I mean I guess she is, but that doesn’t mean that I have been giving her googly eyes.”

“She thought that you would’ve already asked her to be your girlfriend, but you are just too shy. She thinks you’re really cute when you’re shy.”

“She said that?” Dustin blushed. He thought his face would spontaneously combust.

“Yes.”

Dustin was shaking by now, “Oh my god Mr. Sinclair, this is just a HUGE misunderstanding. I don’t know what to say. I’m certainly not trying to rob the cradle or anything. What can I do to fix this?”

Mr. Sinclair sighed, “Well Mr. Henderson, I expect that you will explain to her, very nicely of course, that you don’t have those kinds of feelings for her. She is still very young and could get hurt easily.”

Dustin relaxed just a little bit, “Sure, Sure, no problem Mr. Sinclair.”

“I have a piece of paper here that I want you to sign and date so that there are no future misunderstandings like this. I know that your word is your bond.”

“Of course Mr. Sinclair”

Mr. Sinclair slid Dustin a piece of paper and a pen across the desk.

On the paper were the following words:

_I promise that I will never ask Erica Sinclair to be my girlfriend._

“So, if I sign this and talk to Erica, very nicely, we’re good?” Dustin asked hopefully.

“Yes, sign and date it.”

Dustin looked relieved and took a deep breath, “No, problem.  Let’s see today is March 31st right?”

“Actually, it’s just a few minutes past midnight,” Mr. Sinclair replied.

OK, so it’s April 1st........wait…….., April 1st……………….. WHAT THE HELL! OH MY GOD! SON OF A BITCH!

Mr. Sinclair started laughing and Dustin could hear everyone else laughing uproariously outside the door. Erica’s distinctive cackle was the loudest.

Mr. Sinclair, after several false starts, since he was laughing so hard, responded, “Dustin, pardon my language for a second, but payback is a bitch, isn’t it?”

Dustin never pranked anyone on April Fool’s day again.

 

Epilogue: 15 years later, April 1st.

Mr. Sinclair walked Erica down the aisle of the church with Max and Lucas’ daughter and El and Mike’s son walking in front of them. They were the cutest flower girl and ring bearer ever. He looked ahead at the curly haired groom, whose eyes only saw his beautiful bride to be, and thought, ‘it’s a good thing Dustin didn’t sign that note, because a promise is something you can’t break.’

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you are enjoying the series. Thank you for your comments and kudos.
> 
> I had this story idea because my lovely wife is six years younger than I am. We didn't meet until she had graduated from college and the age difference didn't matter. 
> 
> I have been surprised that I have not seen any fics where the party plays Risk. I was a teenager in the 80's and we played it all of the time. It took a long time but it was a lot better than Monopoly.


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